Scotland launches COVID-19 contact tracing app with Apple and Google API

Apple and Google have partnered to create a COVID-19 exposure notification technology that works on both iPhone and Android smartphones. This technology is slowly being adopted around the world, and today Scotland announced a new app based on the COVID-19 contact tracing API.

The Protect Scotland app was developed by NHS Scotland and it’s based on the Exposure Notification API developed by Apple and Google, which allows public health authorities to offer apps that can alert users when they have been exposed to COVID-19.

Apple and Google technology uses Bluetooth to anonymously identify if a user was close to another person who tested positive for COVID-19. Patients who test positive for COVID-19 will receive a unique token with the test result, which can be inserted in the Protect Scotland app.

The app will alert you if you have been in close contact with another app user who tests positive for coronavirus and can help in determining contacts that you may have otherwise missed. It will do the same for others if you test positive while keeping your information private and anonymous.

Here’s a video demonstrating in detail how the app works:

Apps with the Exposure Notification API require iOS 13.5 or Android 6.0 and later to work. Starting with iOS 13.7, users can opt-in to the Exposure Notification system without installing any third-party app.

Protect Scotland app is available for free on the App Store and Google Play. Other countries have recently joined the list with a contact tracing app, including Brazil, Canada, and Portugal. In the United States, rather than creating a single contact tracing app, the decision to support Exposure Notifications is made by each state’s public health authority.

Read more about the Exposure Notification API here on 9to5Mac:

• How to manage COVID-19 exposure notifications on iPhone
• Which U.S. states are using Apple’s Exposure Notification API for COVID-19 contact tracing?
• England to launch COVID-19 contact tracing app beta with hesitation over proximity limits
• COVID Alert app, built with Apple and Google Exposure Notification API, now available in Canada
• Apple and Google’s COVID-19 Exposure Notification API updated with improvements, Brazil launches app with alerts

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